Chautala tests tenacity of BKU agitatorsChandigarh, May 23By ruling out the holding of talks with the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana, had apparently wanted to put to test the tenacity of the assembled agitators of Kandela who had taken five persons, including two DSPs, hostage.

7 FCI officials chargesheetedKaithal, May 23
At least seven officials of the FCI have been chargesheeted and one of them has been compulsorily retired in the in-famous Imphal rice scam worth crores of rupees.

IT Commissioner’s remand
extended
Ambala, May 23
Special Judge, Ambala B.B. Prasoon here today extended the judicial remand of the Commissioner, Income Tax Karnal, Mr Madan Lal till June 5.
A CBI team had arrested him for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in a tax assessment from the consultant of a firm at Karnal on May 9. Earlier, the Special Magistrate remanded him to judicial custody till May 23.

Phone turns into
user’s headacheChandigarh, May 23Mr Jagminder Singh, an employee of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, had never thought that the telephone connection he was taking for his aged parents would prove to be such a big headache for him.

Ex-Divisional Forest
Officer heldChandigarh, May 23In a major breakthrough, the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau arrested Mr Satya Bhan, IFS, former Divisional Forest Officer,
Sohana, yesterday as a sequel to a case already registered against a former Agriculture and Forest Minister, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, under Sections 406, 409, 418, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at Rohtak police station, on May 2, 2001.

SP’s daughter
kidnappedFatehabad, May 23
Four miscreants today kidnapped the four-year-old daughter of the local SP, Mr Hanif Qureshi. The incident occurred at about 8 pm today. The miscreants also injured the SP’s wife, Mrs Shamim Qureshi.

Blood shortageAmbala, May 23The Ambala Blood Bank is facing a shortage of blood. Deputy Commissioner
D.D. Gautam, who is also president of the Red Cross Society, has made an appeal to the voluntary blood donors and youths to donate blood to meet the shortage.

Chandigarh, May 23
By ruling out the holding of talks with the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana, had apparently wanted to put to test the tenacity of the assembled agitators of Kandela who had taken five persons, including two DSPs, hostage.

Addressing mediapersons here last evening, Mr Chautala said he would not like to hold any negotiations with the agitators who were indulging in anti-social activities like burning buses and abducting government servants.

Talking to this reporter at Kandela earlier on Wednesday BKU activists, however, claimed that they had ample time and need not go back to their fields immediately. “At least for the next three weeks we do not have much to do. Therefore, there should not be any dearth of people joining the demonstrations”, said Mr Satpal Singh, president of the Kaithal district unit of the BKU.

Mr Jagdish Nagar, one of the DSPs being held hostage by the BKU at Kandela, said that on the first day of his captivity, he was kept on the Kandela school premises for some time where programmes were being organised. “ These programmes go on round the clock with a packed crowd in attendance. At night the size of the assembly increases”, said the visibly shaken police officer.

Mr Satpal Singh claimed that farmers from all over Haryana had assembled at Kandela. “They have come from Rohtak, Hisar, Bhiwani, Kaithal and Yamunanagar,” he said.

Sources in the Agriculture Department of Haryana said that though wheat had been harvested and the sowing of paddy was not likely to start before the middle of June, the sowing of the cotton crop was going on in full swing in the state. Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind and Rewari were the districts which recorded 90 per cent of the cotton production of Haryana. Cotton was also cultivated in parts of Rohtak and Kaithal districts, the official said.

He said that farmers would also be attending to their paddy nurseries now for transplanting these later. However, growing paddy in the nurseries involved very little work, the official said adding that those who were staying put at Kandela had somehow managed to take time off from cotton cultivation.

During his press conference here last evening, the Chief Minister reiterated his earlier warning that stern action would be taken against the agitators unless the hostages were set free.

“The crowd will disperse on seeing the police “, claimed an official. This, however, does not seem to be the case if the mood of the crowd at Kandela yesterday was any indication. The gathering included Jagmohan, a 13-year-old boy from Rohera village in Kaithal district, who claimed that his house was raided by the police on April 13 with a warrant to arrest him. “ They are after me because I gave a speech at the earlier agitation at Kandela in December saying that farmers were not being given their due”, he said, adding that since then he had shifted to Kandela.

Mr Chautala, however, said that the farmers were being instigated by his political adversaries.

Asked about the Kandela agreement, reportedly signed between the BKU and state government representatives, Mr Ajay Chautala, MP, and Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Agriculture Minister, Mr Chautala said there was no such agreement.

On the SYL canal issue Mr Chautala said that Punjab was duty bound to start work on the canal by January 15 next.

Jind, May 23
The Bharatiya Kisan Union today served a 24-hour ultimatum on the Haryana Government to release all arrested union workers even as the protest dharna continued for the fifth day and six persons, including two Deputy Superintendents of Police remained in captivity in Kandela village of the district.

BKU Rohtak President Dharambir Hooda said the government should release BKU leaders at the earliest and also waive of outstanding power bills, as had been promised earlier. The hostages were safe in their custody, he added.

State President of the BKU Ghasi Ram Nain led the protesting farmers in staging an indefinite sit-in dharna in the village and blockade of the Jind-Kaithal road, forcing Haryana Roadways authorities to divert buses via Safidon and other routes.

Nain said they would continue to hold DSP Jagdish Nagar, his wife, gunman Amrik Singh, driver of a private vehicle in which he was going to Jind from Chandigarh, DSP (Vigilance) Ashok Kumar and Head Constable Ram Mehar till the time BKU leaders were released. The situation would be reviewed tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala ruled out any talks with the agitating farmers or waving of outstanding power bills.
PTI

Kaithal, May 23
At least seven officials of the FCI have been chargesheeted and one of them has been compulsorily retired in the in-famous Imphal rice scam worth crores of rupees. This was disclosed by the FCI Senior Regional Manager, Haryana, Mr
T.C. Gupta, while talking to mediapersons here yesterday. The seven chargesheeted officials include
Dharamveer, Satish Kumar, Ram Kumar, R.K. Mittal, C.R. Jain all Assistant Managers,
R.K. Bansal District Manager and another official M.S. Gaur. Mr Bansal has already been sent on compulsory retirement and six others have been transferred to far-off places, Mr Gupta added. He said one of the Assistant Managers Mr Dharamveer posted at Kaithal, who didn’t join duty in Jammu and Kashmir, had been suspended.

Mr Gupta further disclosed that after chargesheeting these officials under Rule 58 of the FCI Staff Regulation ACT, 1971, the Regional Manager, Punjab Mr Manmohan Singh, had been asked to conduct an inquiry and submit the report. Mr Gupta said rice worth crores of rupees was dispatched from Kaithal and Kurukshetra to Imphal few years ago which didn’t reach its destination, and these officials were held responsible for lapse.

Replying to a question Mr Gupta confirmed that though action was recommended against these officials in June, 2001, no action could be taken due to pressure of the employees union. However, after taking charge as Senior Regional Manager FCI, Haryana, he wrote a confidential letter to the Managing Director in Delhi on November 26, 2001, and requested him to expedite inquiry.

Mr Gupta informed that he was in favour of honest officials. He was determined to root out corruption from the FCI and had launched campaign in this direction and as a result of which the CBI recently conducted a raid at Hisar and caught an official red-handed. He clarified that the authorities would not buckle under pressure of the employees union, if it supported the corrupt officials.

Kurukshetra, May 23
Keeping in view the agitation launched by the Bhartiya Khadya Nigam Karamchari Sangh yesterday, the District Magistrate, Mr Abhilaksh
Likhi, has promulgated Section 144 of the Cr PC, within and around the FCI offices and depots in the district with immediate effect.

According to the prohibitory order, the gathering of five or more persons, carrying of any weapon like firearms, swords,
lathis, knives etc. and holding of demonstrations within a radius of 100 metres of the offices and depots of the FCI have been banned till June 5. Any person found guilty of violation of the order will be liable for punishment under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

A CBI team had arrested him for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in a tax assessment from the consultant of a firm at Karnal on May 9. Earlier, the Special Magistrate remanded him to judicial custody till May 23.

Three of the counsel Davender Bansal, Anil Kaushik and K.S. Chopra have also filed a bail application in this court on behalf of Mr Lal here today. The judge has served notice to the CBI in this regard for May 27, Madan Lal was also present in the court.

It is notable that on the complaint of an income tax consultant of M/s Mortein Finlease Pvt Ltd, Karnal, the CBI raided the residence of Mr Lal on May 9 and recovered Rs 1 lakh to finalise the assessment order of the firm which was lying pending with an ITO of the office.

The counsel of Mr Lal stated in the bail application said that the accused applicant had got neat and clean record in the service career. The present false frivolous and concocted case was foisted upon him to mar his carrier at the instance of a complainant who had a personal grudge against the petitioner.

The counsel requested the court in the application to grant him bail as he was suffering from severe ailment of the right kidney and required immediate medical investigation from some medical institute for the safety of his life.
PTI

Chandigarh, May 23
Mr Jagminder Singh, an employee of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, had never thought that the telephone connection he was taking for his aged parents would prove to be such a big headache for him.

He had taken the connection in 1999 in his native village, Kila Zaffargarh, in Julana subdivision of Jind district, where his parents lived. Since he found it difficult to visit his village frequently, he thought he would be able to keep in touch with his parents on the phone.

But Jagminder was in for a shock when he started receiving inflated bills, though his parents used the phone only to receive the calls. The telephone had no STD facility. When he contacted the telephone authorities, the Telecom District Manager would give him a rebate in the bill.

On his repeated complaints, Mr Jagminder Singh said, a junior engineer tested the meter in the exchange in his presence. Jagminder claimed that when the JE dialed a local number, the meter jumped by 24 calls.

In June, 2000, he received a bill of about Rs 1600, which, according to him, was again inflated. The department gave a rebate of Rs 300. However, Jagminder was not satisfied. He contacted senior officers and continued his fight against inflated bills. He said the authorities admitted in private that there was a fault in the Julana telephone exchange. But they were not ready to give him any further rebate. Ultimately, the telephone was disconnected due to non-payment.

He also went to a lok adalat organised by the department, where he was assured by the authorities that his problem would be solved soon. However, the assurance remained unfulfilled. His fight, meanwhile, continued.

When contacted, the Divisional Engineer, Telecom, Jind, Mr Ahuja, denied that there was any fault in the exchange. He said rebate was given as “benefit of doubt”. He said now the system was very good.

Chandigarh, May 23
In a major breakthrough, the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau arrested Mr Satya Bhan, IFS, former Divisional Forest Officer, Sohana, yesterday as a sequel to a case already registered against a former Agriculture and Forest Minister, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, under Sections 406, 409, 418, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at Rohtak police station, on May 2, 2001.

It may be recalled that the Bureau had detected a case of alleged misuse of power by Mr Dalal in 1996-99 when Mr Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister. Mr Dalal had allegedly caused wrongful loss to the state to the tune of over Rs `6.63 lakh in the purchase of bio-fertilizer from one of his close associates. He had made this purchase allegedly in connivance with some officials of the Forest Department.

Mr Bhan had purchased bio-fertilizer of Rs 50,000 at the rate of Rs 50 per kg during his posting at Arawali Project at the instance of Mr Dalal from Raghubir Singh Sandhu, another accused close to Mr Dalal, whereas the fertiliser was available at the rate of Rs 17 per kg. The other accused in the case namely Pawan Kumar, Raghubir Singh and Chander Bhan, officials of the Forest Department, Satbir Singh and Raghubir Singh have already been arrested and the case is being investigated.

Fatehabad, May 23
Four miscreants today kidnapped the four-year-old daughter of the local SP, Mr Hanif Qureshi. The incident occurred at about 8 pm today. The miscreants also injured the SP’s wife, Mrs Shamim Qureshi.

According to reports, Mrs Qureshi was taking a stroll in the Mini-Secretariat area near the official residence of the SP with her daughter.

Some four or five miscreants came in a jeep and hit Mrs Qureshi with some blunt object on the head and took away the girl. The jeep then sped away towards Sirsa.

Mrs Qureshi was admitted to the Civil Hospital where doctors stiched her wounds. The police has been alerted.

Ambala, May 23
The Ambala Blood Bank is facing a shortage of blood. Deputy Commissioner D.D. Gautam, who is also president of the Red Cross Society, has made an appeal to the voluntary blood donors and youths to donate blood to meet the shortage.

There is only one blood bank in the district existing in the Civil Hospital, Ambala city. The hospitals at Naraingarh and Ambala cantonment, around a dozen government primary health centres and all the private nursing homes of the district depend on this blood bank for their blood requirements.

Generally the Ambala Blood Bank gets blood through the donation camps organised by various colleges and social organisations.